


would you love me again?

by wildheartly



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Angst, Canon Compliant, Crying, Doomed Relationship, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Post-Canon, Romance, but it's my tags and i'll do as i please, idk if i can call this hurt/comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-11
Updated: 2021-01-11
Packaged: 2021-03-15 23:41:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,220
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28697109
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wildheartly/pseuds/wildheartly
Summary: “I thought the Fire Nation was all about the sun.”“There’s a legend that says that the Sun loved the Moon so much that he died every night just so she could breathe,” Zuko replied, his eyes finding Katara’s even in the darkness of the gardens. “Sometimes us, children of fire, need to show our love for the Moon too.”
Relationships: Katara/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 59





	would you love me again?

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you guys enjoy this =)

She was standing at the Fire Palace’s ballroom, walking through the crowd as if she owned the entire Fire Nation. Dignitaries, nobles and politics turned their heads to look at her as she passed by, some even rushing to stop her and try to start some kind of conversation. She, as nice and polite as ever, stopped each time someone called her name. 

Seeing her there made Zuko want to pretend that it would last more than a few hours. 

So he did.

He watched her laugh and pretended that he heard the melodic sound every day. He watched her dance and pretended that the yellow and orange fabric flowing around her was red and blue. He watched as she hypnotized every person on the vicinity and pretended it didn’t bother him, for her heart was his as much as his heart was hers.

Zuko watched as Katara’s soon-to-be-husband took her in his arms and couldn’t pretend anymore.

…

Katara found him by the turtleduck pond. 

He was sitting there, his chin tipped up and resting on his knees so he could look at the moon. 

“She’s beautiful, isn’t she?” Katara was taken by surprise, she shouldn’t have been: in the entirety of their 8 years of friendship, she never successfully sneaked upon him. 

“Yes.” She replied, suddenly feeling foolish for coming after him. She tried to disguise her shame turning her attention to the flowers ornating her surroundings. It was clear that, after becoming Fire Lord, Zuko had spent an enormous amount of money on them. Maybe the others wouldn’t see the reasons behind his doing but she knew him too well not to know he did it for his mom, someone he would never see again.

“What are these?” She asked, running light fingers over the petals of a white, glistening flower. “They weren’t here the last time I visited.”

“They are called Moonlilies.”

“I thought the Fire Nation was all about the sun.” 

“There’s a legend that says that the Sun loved the Moon so much that he died every night just so she could breathe,” Zuko replied, his eyes finding Katara’s even in the darkness of the gardens. “Sometimes us, children of fire, need to show our love for the Moon too.”

Katara was frozen into place by his words. She knew the meaning behind them and she was doing the best she could not to run and hide somewhere where no one would see her perfect facade break apart.

But Katara never ran away from things that scared her. She wasn’t about to start now. 

So she sat down next to him and took off her armour for the boy who already knew what was behind it.

“You shouldn’t be saying things like these, Zuko.” She looked at him with sad eyes. “You know the Moon can’t control the way she turns.”

“Well, she should be able to.” He replied, the frustration not letting him look at her without wanting to tear himself apart. “I don’t think it’s fair that she has to abdicate of her own happiness to maintain the happiness of another.”

“I’m not ‘abdicating’ my happiness.” Katara protested.

“But you are sacrificing part of your heart, aren’t you?”

“Don’t act as if you aren’t doing the exact same thing. And for Tui’s sake don’t act as if we have a choice. It hurts enough as it is, please don’t make this any more difficult.”

“We got to have it out, Katara! I can’t sit here and watch as you marry someone you don’t love because you are too selfless to break his heart!” He sprung to his feet and she followed suit. “I’m tired of seeing you cast aside your own wants and needs to fulfil those of another person!”

“Then what should I do? Should I break the heart of the world’s saviour? The boy who lost everything he ever loved? Should I take that from him too?” Her harsh words brought tears to both their eyes, but that didn’t stop her. “And if I do it, what would I do next? Marry his best friend and let the world hate us both? Because no one would care that he is the only one who I have ever truly loved and that no one could ever hold my heart as tenderly and lovingly as he does.” 

Katara regretted her words as soon as they came out of her mouth. She couldn’t take them back, so she did the next best thing and walked closer to him and let his arms calm the storm inside her chest.

“I’m sorry, Katara. So, so, _so_ sorry.” 

“Don’t be.” She said against his chest, not because there weren’t things to be sorry for but because there were so many that, if he was sorry for them, he wouldn’t be able to bear their weight.

Zuko held her and Katara held him.

“We should probably get back.” He let his arms fall from around her and looked away. Staying any longer wouldn’t be fair to her, he knew that it would only make the goodbye harder. But once again she surprised him when cold hands wrapped themselves around his wrist.

“Can we… Aang is occupied with politics and the rest of them won’t bother to come looking for us. Let’s pretend a little bit longer. Please.”

_Pretending was never good. Pretending builds paper houses only to burn them down._

Zuko sat by the pond again and offered his hand, welcoming her into his arms. The whole world was still for a moment as if the sky and the earth had made an agreement to stop time and let two star-crossed lovers steal a little bit of it for themselves.

“Did I ever tell you about the time we found Wan Shi Tong’s library?” Zuko gave her a nod and she kept on speaking. "At one point I wandered off - I know I shouldn't have but I was a curious kid - and I found a whole shelf of books about love. There was this one that talked about lifetimes."

"Lifetimes as in the belief that our souls have multiple lifetimes?"

Katara hummed in agreement and melted deeper into his embrace.

"I like to think that we will meet again. And that we've met times before. I can't imagine a life without you in it, in any way."

Zuko said nothing more, he just rested his head on top of hers and kissed her temple. There wasn't anything he could say or do at that moment to change the way things would turn out. 

He could feel her heart beating next to his, the memory wouldn't be enough when she went away, but it was for now.

…

(Her ship was already warming up to leave She stood beside her brother and boyfriend but she didn't hesitate to jump into his arms to say goodbye.

Zuko held her as if his life depended on it.

“Can you love me again?” He whispered desperately with his head buried in her neck.

“I never stopped.” 

“But can you bear to love me again, in the next life? Would you love me again in another lifetime even with all the pain love brings us?"

Katara raised her head to look at him.

"I would love you even if it meant tearing myself apart.")

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!! I really enjoyed writing this but to be honest, I'm not sure it's good lol
> 
> Anyways, kudos and comments are welcome!


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